High Sierra Topix

The layover "debate" is interesting to me. Greg, I'm with you! My idea of a layover day is a full-day hike without the pack, returning to my tent for another night at the same spot. Sometimes those end up being among the hardest days of the trip (like when I climbed Mt. Russell from Wales Lake (with an unplanned detour along the way), returning at close to 10p.m). I admire those who can sit and relax, but (particularly since I don't fish) the thought of missing something spectacular that I could reach with one more day of hiking would torture me.

interesting point to clarify...layover to me means doing a nice "robust" day hike vs. just hanging out...isn't that what night time in the tent is for?

I actually plan two layover days into my Rae trip - to hike to places to scope them out as potential future destinations/routes. Is using a backpacking trip to plan other backpacking trips unusual?

-How many trips do you usually come up with at the possibility stage of things, and
how many of these do you really actually do?

Nothing is consistent from year to year or decade to decade. It all depends. Sometimes I take off from my hi tech career for long periods and can backpack as much as I want. Note backpacking is not a goal for me as an activity but rather landscape and nature photography. So I backpack when that serves purpose while preferring to day hike if that is all I need. When on an 8-5 m-f job for years, one is still rather constrained for a list of reasons as to what is possible. For instance when one starts a new job, PTO is always limited so there are early lean years like the last two. And then many times a company cannot afford to have key people on projects not be there for too long a time even if one has lots of PTO. Also life is not all about backpacking. There are alot of other things like friends visiting during periods. Or desires to attend social events or sporting events etc that are on certain dates. Much more. I have dozens of planned trips detailed on spreadsheets. Far more than I will ever do. All from topo map work and much is usually offtrail.

-Do you plan or have a list of places for extra (smaller) trips just in case you get some
unforeseen extra free time?

No don't plan like that.

-Is the time you have for backpacking pretty much the same each year(because of work or
family vacations)?

No. I make that clear to employers when they hire me.

-Do you all ways plan let's say 5 trips each year, but unforeseen family issues, job related
issues, or injury all ways lessens this amount each year?

Don't plan like that.

-Do you plan trips with a priority in mind since once you hit a certain age some places may be beyond your capabilities, so you try to do some trips as early in your years as you still can?

Don't plan like that.

Planning trips in detail on a spreadsheet is sort of a hobby that I do in mid-winter. It is my entertainment (instead of reading novels) that I do an hour or so before bedtime. So, I have more detailed planned trips than I could ever do! I also do many configurations of each trip - clockwise loops, then look at it the opposite direction. This kind of planning is not necessary - it is simply fun.

I do not work full time and my family is grown so I am very flexible. I do not get reserved permits- just pick up first-come permits. I prefer longer trips - 10 days is my perfect time span. Since I do not work much, unless a working person is going with me, I leave mid-week- less crowds and easier to get permits. The two things that determine my schedule are weather and grandkids. If extended bad weather is forecast, I simply stay home. I do not like to deal with mosquitoes so I am always out-running them by progressively going higer, then drop down lower, until August when this does not matter anymore. The kids know to expect my visits off-season, however, backpacking takes second seat to any new grandchildren born in the summer! In a few years when the eight grandkids get old enough to backpack, I suspect that I will be doing a lot of backpacking with the grandkids!

I plan one to two week-long fishing trips to do with my husband, who's style of backpacking is opposite mine. I like to go light, fast, cover lots of off-trail miles and explore; he likes to hike half days, slowly, take all the luxeries possible and fish a lot and stay on trails. When he goes with me it is all about making the best trip for him.

I am rather obsessive about exlporing new country- rarely do the same trip twice. I also like to explore other areas outside the Sierra. I am nearly done with all the county high points - this has really opened my eyes on other obscure little mountain areas. I would really like to get into more Nevada mountains too.

I also have a set of shorter 2-5 day planned trips for off-season. These are spur of the moment trips when there is a weather break on the coast.

I also look closely at gas costs. When prices are high, I stay in the Sierra; when prices are low I will go to the Rockies or Cascades.

I tend to daydream about a bunch of hypothetical future trips but not necessarily with the plan of doing them in the coming season.

At present I am 'granted' a maximum of one backpacking trip outside of the family per season (max 5 days) but this can be forfeited by extra days away from home in the name of geology. This resulted in no trip in 2006, 2009, 2010, and I just traded the death march rights for 2011,and possibly 2012. The one 5 day trip has led to planning fairly extreme trips such as Tunechuck 2008 when the game plan was to attempt upper Blue Canyon on day 1. On the other hand, the kids are getting stronger and their own hiking radius is slowly increasing. We always have a minimum of one family backpacking trip and we'll probably (hopefully) increase to 2 or 3 in 2011 plus 3 or 4 additional day hikes and possibly more. I have a long list of possible dayhikes to do, either from Fresno up and back, or tied to car or motel camping. The dayhikes come in three categories: family dayhikes (easiest), sneak-out-during-the-day-with-Judy-while-kids-are-in-daycare dayhikes (need to be fairly short to get back in time, but can be more difficult than the family ones), and dayhikes for me to do solo or with friends (the Topix fishing rendezvous last year was one of these).

As for doing tough ones sooner rather than later, nope, I don't worry about that. Someday I really will slow down but it isn't a factor in near term planning.

SSSdave wrote:-How many trips do you usually come up with at the possibility stage of things, and
how many of these do you really actually do?

I enjoy just looking at maps, and planning/daydreaming trips. I might call in as many as 5-6 of those 2-4 days trips for wilderness permit reservations. I usually miss one or two because of last minute schedule conflicts. I take one 10-12 day trip a year, usually late August-early September, and I almost always keep that one.

-Do you plan or have a list of places for extra (smaller) trips just in case you get some
unforeseen extra free time?

definitely

-Do you all ways plan let's say 5 trips each year, but unforeseen family issues, job related
issues, or injury all ways lessens this amount each year?

yes

-Do you plan trips with a priority in mind since once you hit a certain age some places may be beyond your capabilities, so you try to do some trips as early in your years as you still can?

I am 55, so I try to keep doing the trips that I want to do, regardless of difficulty, since the possibility always exist that they will become much more difficult to do in the future. I would like to do a lot of Roper's route in the coming years. If I can keep doing those type of trips, that would be awesome, but the clock is ticking..... I have already shelved peak-bagging. Back in the day, I loved it. Now I prefer to fish. Maybe climb something once and a while. It feels alot harder than it used to be, and I am not that motivated, so why bother.